Defining the Scope of the Process

It makes sense to regard customers, suppliers and regulators outside the scope of any process as, generally, we have no control over their internal processes.

However, sometimes it is also convenient to regard 'in-house' functions as outside the scope of the processes. This might be the case if, for example, we haven't yet got round to mapping their part of the process or if their internal activities are irrelevant to the current improvement project.

Communicating with the Originator

If the process is initiated by a message from a Black-Box Pool, the start event is shown as a message start event. This is represented by a thin circle with a clear envelope in the middle.

The final event is a message end event, informing the originator that the purchase order has been submitted. This is represented by a thick circle with a filled-in envelope in the middle. Note, this replaces the 'Inform Originator' activity box that we used when initially describing the Purchasing Process.

A message start event is one of a number of catching events used in BPMN. The event is 'catching' the request from the originator.

A message end event is one of a number of throwing events used in BPMN. The event is 'throwing' a confirmation to the originator.